


If I Could Talk to the Animals

by VeraBAdler



Series: October 2019 challenges [16]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Powers, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester if you squint, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-20 19:17:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21061832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeraBAdler/pseuds/VeraBAdler
Summary: Dean is surprised to learn something new about his angel friend.Prompt 1: WildPrompt 2: Familiars





	If I Could Talk to the Animals

The first time it happens, Dean's up and out of bed earlier than usual, for no particular reason. As he nears the kitchen, he hears Cas's voice rising and falling in conversation. There's no other voice to be heard, though. _Who's he calling at this hour?_ Dean wonders, but when he enters the room, Cas doesn't have his phone in his hand. He's crouching slightly, and seems to be talking to the baseboards in the corner next to the fridge.

"I would appreciate it, thank you," he's saying to no one, and Dean thinks, _this seems kind of weird, even for him_.

Out loud, he plays it cool. "Hey Cas, whatcha doin'?

"Hello, Dean," the angel replies, straightening up. "I was talking to the spider who lives in that corner. I was making sure that he's not planning to move his residence to any of the parts of the kitchen where we prepare food, for reasons of hygiene."

_So... Cas is talking to spiders now_, Dean thinks. Then he shrugs it off. He has a dim memory of his mom doing something similar when he was a little boy – talking to the bugs she shooed out of the house, thanking them for their visits and asking them to find new places to live. It's kind of cute. _As long as he doesn't think the spiders are talking back, he decides with a laugh._

~~~~~

The next time it happens, they're on a case, and that's when things start to get strange, by Dean's admittedly skewed standards. Despite the fact that the witch has been, uh, "neutralized", the spell that's keeping this family in an enchanted coma hasn't broken. There must be a hex bag in play. But they've tossed the house as thoroughly as they can manage without attracting attention from the legitimate authorities or the nosy neighbors, and they've turned up a whole bunch of diddly-squat.

Then Dean turns around and realizes he's alone in the house. It freaks him out a little, because they'd talked it out, and he thought they'd agreed that the angelic disappearing act was a thing of the past. He breathes a little easier when he looks out into the backyard and finds Cas standing by the doghouse, talking animatedly despite the fact that there's no one out there with him. Before he makes it to the back door, Cas is striding back inside.

"There's a hex bag under the kitchen sink," he states with certainty. "And one in the master bedroom, between the mattress and the box spring."

Dean goes and looks, and there they are, exactly where Cas told him they'd be. A couple flicks of the lighter later, they get the call from the hospital: the Robertsons are waking up, and are expected to make a full recovery.

As they're driving back to the Bunker, Dean asks him how he knew where to look.

“I asked the dog,” he says casually. “if she'd smelled anything new the day her family got sick.”

And Dean doesn't know what to say to that, so he turns up the radio and lets it be.

~~~~~

They finally talk about it in the woods behind the Bunker one warm day. Dean wakes up a little early again, and there's no Cas to be found. This time, rather than freak out, Dean throws him a text. _I'm outside_, comes the reply. So Dean pulls on his boots and heads out.

He doesn't have to walk far to find him – the angel is just at the edge of the trees, and he's not alone. Clustered in a semicircle around him are a mama bear and her two half-grown cubs. They're standing very still, gazing at him with rapt expressions on their furry faces. Cas seems to be holding forth on a topic of some passion; Dean isn't close enough to hear his voice, but his fervent gesticulations are easy to see.

Cas looks utterly at ease, but that's okay – Dean is scared enough for the both of them. _Cas, get outta there!_ he screams in his head. _This ain't no Disney movie. Those are wild animals!_ There's no way he's getting any closer to that little tableau, so he whips out his phone again.

_Are you fucking insane? Those are BEARS_, he types. He hits send, then watches from thirty feet away as Cas reads the text. He laughs, then turns Dean's way and gestures.

_Come over_, he sends in reply. _It's perfectly safe_.

_Are you serious??_

Cas nods at him, and then the mama bear turns to look his way, and she nods, too. At this point Dean stops trying to make sense of anything that's going on, and starts walking over.

When he's about ten feet away, the cubs scamper off into the woods. The mama bear huffs, nods to Cas, and follows, disappearing among the trees.

“I'm sorry,” Cas murmurs when Dean reaches him. “The cubs are shy around new people.”

“It's fine, Cas. I wasn't in any hurry to meet a bear. Why were you out here hanging with bears in the first place?”

“We were discussing the bees,” the angel replies placidly.

As freaked out and confused as he is, Dean can't stifle a laugh at that. “Of _course_ you were. But, like, really? You were having a conversation with them? Were they magical creatures? Like... Familiars? They spoke English?”

“No, I can speak bear.”

Dean is floored. “You can...? Why can you speak bear?”

“I can speak _all_ languages, Dean. Not just human ones.”

“Wait...” The gears are finally engaging in Dean's brain. “So, does that mean you actually can speak _spider_? Like in the kitchen the other day? And you really did ask the dog about the hex bags at the Robertson's?”

“Of course, Dean, what did you think I meant?” Cas tilts his head and looks at him like he's the baffling one here.

“I thought you were kidding! Or playing a joke! Or, I dunno, that maybe you did some kinda angel mind meld on the mutt. I didn't know you could literally speak, like, schnauzer!”

“It's nice to know I can still surprise you,” Cas says primly. He turns and begins to walk back to the Bunker. “Come on, I'll introduce you to the spider.”

**Author's Note:**

> Rebloggable link for this fic on tumblr is [here](https://blessyourhondahurley.tumblr.com/post/188395671616/october-16-if-i-could-talk-to-the-animals).


End file.
